Ripon man jailed for attacking police in Harrogate

A Ripon man has been jailed for attacking three police officers at Harrogate Police Station.

Benjamin Donnelly, 36, admitted the offences when he appeared before magistrates in York yesterday.

He was jailed for 16 weeks because of the seriousness of the offences and his previous record.

Donnelly, of Somerset Row, pleaded guilty to assaulting the officers on Friday last week.

He also admitted assaulting a custody worker at the police station on Beckwith Head Road and was fined £300.

Following the case, a spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Police said:

“Assaults against police officers, staff and other emergency services will never be tolerated. We have a robust process in place for investigating offences and bringing those responsible to justice.

“If you assault an emergency services worker, you will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law, which will frequently end in a prison sentence. That’s how serious this offence is.”

Read more:

 

Harrogate man jailed for assaulting three police officers in Ripon

A man from a village near Harrogate has been jailed for six months for assaulting police officers.

James Ashley Gibb, 34, initially denied attacking three police officers in Ripon Market Place on October 28 last year.

But Gibb, of Ripon Road, Killinghall, changed his plea and was sentenced at Harrogate Magistrates Court last week.

Court documents say he was jailed due to the seriousness of the offence and also “because of different kinds of assaults including biting, kicking and threat of spitting and committed whilst on post-sentence supervision”.

The offence was aggravated by the defendant’s record of previous offending, the documents added.

Ripon Market Square arrest

The incident in Ripon Market Place last year

Gibb also pleaded guilty to using racially aggravated threatening or abusive words.

He was also given a concurrent four-month prison sentence for threatening a person on Station Parade in Harrogate on January 14 this year.

Besides being jailed, he was fined £275.

Read more:

 

Harrogate woman jailed for 10 weeks

A woman from Harrogate has been jailed for 10 weeks for failing to comply with a community order.

Claire Read, 28, of Fairfax Avenue, admitted the offence when she appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Friday.

Read received a suspended sentence, which included a community order, on September 23 last year.

As part of this, she was required to attend an appointment on February 15 but failed to do so.

Court documents say Read was jailed for ‘wilful and persistent failure to comply with the requirements of a community order’.

The documents added her guilty plea was taken into account when the sentence was imposed.

Read more:

 

Knaresborough man jailed for ‘flagrant disregard for court orders’

A Knaresborough man has been jailed for 12 weeks after admitting theft.

Frankie Gilmour, 33, of Nora Avenue, pleaded guilty to stealing a bag worth £99.99 from TK Maxx in Harrogate when he appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday.

The offence, on February 20, came while Gilmour was serving a suspended eight-week jail sentence issued two weeks earlier.

Magistrates imposed a four-week jail sentence as well as the eight weeks he was sentenced to previously.

Court documents said he was jailed because of his “flagrant disregard for court orders” and “because the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s record of previous offending”.

He was also fined £154.

Read more:

 

Harrogate man jailed for ‘humiliating and degrading’ sex attack

A man has been jailed for a “humiliating and degrading” sex attack on a young woman at a property in Harrogate.

Andrew Reekie, 33, left the woman “haunted” and an emotional wreck following the “absolutely disgusting” assault, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Shaun Dodds said the victim tried to kick Reekie off her during the assault and told him to “get off”. She was crying afterwards and told a friend what had happened.

Reekie told her she “wouldn’t dare ring the police” but she plucked up the courage to do so.

Reekie, of Bramham Drive, Jennyfields, was brought in for questioning two months after the attack but refused to answer police questions.

He was charged with sexual assault but denied the offence, only to plead guilty on the day of trial in January. He appeared for sentence yesterday.

The court heard he had previous convictions for serious violence, public disorder, acquisitive crime, possessing an offensive weapon, robbery, criminal damage and breaching court orders.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that “life as I knew it came to an abrupt and sudden halt” following the sex attack. She added:

“I was paralysed (with fear) and completely helpless.”

She said she was “powerless” to stop Reekie and she had felt an inexplicable but “overwhelming shame” since the incident, adding:

“I felt completely alone and unable to trust anyone.

“The sound of his voice will (continue) to play in my head. It was like a knife in my guts.”

Nightmares and shame

She said that after the attack she “couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep or socialise”.

She had nightmares of other women being sexually assaulted and she was “more and more anxious that it was going to happen to somebody else”.

She said that even reporting the attack only “intensified the shame” and she developed serious mental-health problems.

It had affected her work and she had felt “traumatised” about the prospect of giving evidence in court.

Read more:

She said that before the incident she was a “young woman full of confidence, looking forward to a bright future”, but Reekie had “took my young spirit and crushed it”.

She had sought professional help for her problems but there were still days when “I can’t get out of bed because I’m too haunted by what happened”.  She added:

“I so desperately want my life back – the life (Reekie) took from me.”

‘A humiliating and degrading attack’

Defence barrister Andrew Stranex said Reekie was a father and had since found work.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, described the incident as a “very nasty sexual assault”. He added:

“This was a humiliating and degrading attack.

“It has had a devastating effect on (the victim).”

He told Reekie:

“What you did was absolutely disgusting. You treated (the victim) like…your own personal pleasure ground.”

He said it was clear Reekie had refused to admit his guilt until the day of trial “in the hope that (the victim) wouldn’t have the courage to attend”.

Reekie was handed a 13-month jail sentence of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence. He was also ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

 

 

Ripon man jailed for stabbing and biting police during ‘horrifying’ scenes

A man has been jailed for nearly five years for stabbing a young soldier in a “horrifying” attack in Ripon and biting police officers following his arrest.

Kyle Harpin, 34, went ballistic after a woman rejected his advances in a bar in the city centre and turned her attention to the victim instead, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Aggrieved by this rejection, Harpin crept up on the victim outside in the street and pulled out a 19-inch blade from the waistband of his trousers, said prosecutor Ben Campbell.

He pressed the knife against the victim’s throat, causing a cut to the front of his neck.

The victim walked away but Harpin, who was drunk, followed him down the street. He then stabbed the young man in the side of his stomach, causing a four-centimetre puncture wound.

The victim thought he had been punched but later realised he had been stabbed after noticing blood trickling from a wound to the side of his body, said Mr Campbell.

He was taken to Harrogate District Hospital and was discharged the following day after scans revealed no serious or life-threatening injuries.

Ripon night out

Mr Campbell said the victim had been out with friends for a night out in Ripon. By the end of the night, at about 4am on October 16 last year, he got talking to, and then kissed, the woman whom Harpin had tried to chat up in the bar earlier in the evening.

Unbeknown to the victim, Harpin was watching them while concealing a knife inside his waistband. Mr Campbell said:

“(Harpin) approached (the victim) from behind and put the knife to his throat.”

When the victim tried to walk away, Harpin plunged the knife into his side and then jogged off.

Leeds Crown Court. Picture: the Stray Ferret.

Harpin was was jailed for four years at Leeds Crown Court.

The victim, who was also drunk, said it felt “like a punch to the left side of his ribs” but then “looked down and could see he was bleeding”.

His friends took him to his army camp nearby where he was treated in the guard room before being taken to hospital where medical staff applied steri strips to his neck and a puncture dressing to the torso wound.

Read more:

Harpin, of Priest Lane, Ripon, was arrested and became “agitated and aggressive” with officers as they escorted him to custody, repeatedly banging his head against the police van and swearing at them.

He was taken to Harrogate hospital due to his repeated butting of the police vehicle. His handcuffs were removed to allow staff to check his blood pressure, but Harpin then threatened to punch the officers, before lunging at one of them and grabbing an officer by the throat in a chokehold. Mr Campbell added:

“He then shouted repeatedly that he was going to bite the nose from her face.”

He then tried to headbutt another officer before biting him on the hand. Harpin was arrested again and continued to hurl abuse at officers, including racial slurs. Mr Campbell said:

“He was making other threats that he would rape the wives of a police officer.”

Police found the knife, which was encased in a black sheath, in an alleyway in Ripon.

Charged with attempted murder

Harpin was initially charged with attempted murder of the stab victim but denied this and ultimately offered a plea to an alternative charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. This plea was accepted by the prosecution and the attempted-murder charge was dropped.

He was also charged with carrying a blade, threatening a person with a knife, two counts of assaulting a police officer and racially aggravated threatening behaviour towards one of the constables. He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence via video link yesterday.

The court heard he had 23 previous convictions for over 30 offences dating back 20 years including theft, assaulting and resisting police officers, public disorder and battery.

Defence barrister Robert Mochrie said Harpin had drug and alcohol issues in the past and been diagnosed with mental health problems following a troubled upbringing, but conceded that the incident in Ripon was a “horrifying scene”.

Judge Tom Bayliss KC said although Harpin was “no stranger to trouble with the police”, his latest offences were “of a different order” to those he had committed in the past. He added:

“Because what you have now demonstrated is that you are perfectly prepared to go out at night on the streets of Ripon armed with a knife and to threaten people with it and to use it to inflict injury or serious injury.”

He said the young soldier “must have been terrified” when Harpin drew out the blade and noted that Harpin had “already threatened others with it”. Mr Bayliss said:

“It’s purely good fortune that he did not suffer more serious injuries.”

He said he was “quite satisfied” Harpin posed a risk of harm to the public and therefore found him to be a dangerous offender in the eyes of the law.

Harpin, who clutched Rosary beads during his court appearance from a custody suite, was jailed for four years and nine months and was told he would only become eligible for parole two-thirds the way through that sentence, and only then if the parole board deemed him fit to be released.

As a dangerous offender, Harpin was also ordered to serve an extended three-year period on prison licence.

 

 

Harrogate man jailed for possessing ‘madball’ at convention centre

A Harrogate man has been jailed for five months for possessing a glass ball in a sock.

John Donaldson, 32, of Cheltenham Crescent, had the improvised weapon, known as a madball, at Harrogate Convention Centre on November 15 last year.

He admitted the offence at Harrogate Magistrates Court last week.

Court documents say Donaldson was jailed because of the seriousness of the offence and for his previous record of offending.

He was also ordered to pay a £154 surcharge to fund victims’ services and a £85 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.

glass ball in sock madball

A police picture of a glass ball in a sock — not the one referred to in this case.

Read more:

 

Man jailed for 12 months after theft from Harrogate shop

A man has been jailed for a year after being found guilty of theft from a shop in Harrogate town centre.

Jason Mark Johnson, 24, of no fixed address, was charged with trespassing at VPZ vape shop on Beulah Street and stealing property worth £685 on November 11 last year.

He denied the charge but was found guilty at Harrogate Magistrates Court last week and sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Court documents said Johnson was given a custodial sentence because of the seriousness of the crime and also because the offence was aggravated by his previous record of offending.

He was also ordered to pay £685 compensation.

Read more:

 

Man jailed for two-month fraud spree at Harrogate and York hotels

A man has been jailed for embarking on a two-month fraud spree at hotels in Harrogate and York at the end of last year.

Parmpareet Singh-Pooni, of no fixed address, admitted two offences at the Crowne Plaza on King’s Road in Harrogate when he appeared before magistrates in York on Monday.

He pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining accommodation, food and drinks by claiming he was called Nikko Singh and not paying for them between November 3 and 6.

Singh-Pooni also admitted trying the same ruse at the Crowne Plaza on either November 23 and 24.

He pleaded guilty to stealing £140 cash from behind the reception at the Dean Court hotel in York on December 17 and defrauding Malmaison in York by giving another false name and not paying for food and drink between December 27 and 31.

He was jailed for 10 weeks, with court documents saying he was jailed because of the number of offences, his record and due to the fact he was on recall.

Singh-Pooni was also ordered to pay compensation totalling £1,083 to the Crowne Plaza, £140 to the Dean Court Hotel and £452 to Malmaison.

Read more:

 

Man jailed for lewd act near children’s play area in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens

Warning: this article contains details some people may find upsetting.

A sexual predator has been jailed for over two years for performing a lewd act near the children’s play area in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens.

Kevin Payne, 67, was under a strict court order not to go anywhere near children’s play parks following previous convictions for child-sex offences.

But on June 12 he parked his car outside Valley Gardens and made his way to a wooded area near a children’s play area, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said a passer-by spotted Payne performing a lewd act in woods overlooking the play park.

Payne was “startled” by the passer-by, who spotted him through a gap in a hedge and shouted over to him as Payne ran away.

Ms Morrison added:

“The passer-by gave chase and (as) he followed Payne, he took a number of pictures of him before apprehending him and keeping him there until police arrived.”

Payne was arrested and admitted breaching a sexual-harm prevention order, which prohibited him from going within 100 metres of any recreational area where there may be children present.

However, he denied a separate charge of outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner, namely performing a lewd act.

The play area in Valley Gardens.

Payne, from Bradford, was due to face trial today but admitted the offence at the last minute.

Ms Morrison said Payne committed the offences in Harrogate while under investigation for downloading indecent sexual imagery online.

He was arrested for those offences in December last year after police monitoring officers paid him a routine visit to check he was complying with the sexual-harm prevention order following a previous jail sentence for child-sex offences.

Payne handed over his mobile phone on which police found internet searches for sexual images of children and an indecent photo of a child rated Category A – the worst kind. They also found six images of extreme pornography, namely bestiality.

Payne admitted making an indecent image of a child and possessing six extreme-pornographic images following his arrest and was recalled to prison to serve the remainder of a six-month jail sentence imposed in June last year for making indecent images of children.

He was released from prison in January this year and went on to commit the offences at Valley Gardens in June.

40 years of crime

The Crown proceeded to sentence on all matters today as the prosecution outlined Payne’s 40-year criminal history, which comprised 51 previous offences including many for indecently exposing himself in front of young girls and making indecent images of children.

His rap sheet also included voyeurism, kerb-crawling, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, serious violence, harassment, public disorder, and breaching court orders.

He had been given extended prison sentences in the past for child-sex offences as various judges deemed him a dangerous offender.

Defence barrister Derek Duffy said Payne “did not intend to be seen by anybody” in Valley Gardens when he carried out the lewd act.

He said Payne had rented accommodation in Bradford before being remanded in custody, but he had since lost that and intended to live with a friend in Harrogate upon his release from jail.

He added that Payne — formerly of Ling Park Avenue, Bingley, but currently of no fixed address — was a retired man who had lost all contact with his family and was a “rather despondent” figure.

Read more:

Judge Simon Hickey described Payne’s latest offences in Valley Gardens as “quite revolting” and told him:

“You are, worryingly, 67, and you are still committing offences of this nature. Fortunately, the children were not to see what you did.”

Payne was given a 27-month jail sentence but will only spend half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.

He was ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years and the judge ordered that the sexual-harm prevention order would remain in place.

Mr Hickey said the named witness who chased and detained Payne would be paid £150 from the public purse for his “very-public-spirited” actions.